


Wake up, Link...

by mintyfreshness



Category: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-07
Updated: 2018-08-07
Packaged: 2019-06-23 09:06:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,430
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15603012
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mintyfreshness/pseuds/mintyfreshness
Summary: "Wake up, Link..."A series of mornings. A progression.A resolution.





	Wake up, Link...

"Link... Wake up, Link! You've got lots to do today!"

A pillow smacks him lightly across the face, tossed across the room by his captain. Link grabs it and slowly blinks his eyes open, searching for the man in an attempt to return the favour, but he has already left the dormitory, his footsteps sounding softly as he descends the stairs towards the mess hall. The pillow falls from his loosening grasp and Link allows his eyes to close again.

Mornings have never really been his forte, Link admits, and the love affair between him and his pillow forms the butt of many jokes in the barracks, but on this morning in particular he finds the thought of getting out of bed particularly grating.

Around him, the other boys stir to life, stretching and groaning about the day ahead, but Link remains curled up beneath his covers. If he thinks hard enough, blocks out the noise of the others around him, he can almost pretend that he is in his bed at home, that his father is the one waking him for breakfast, that the smell of food drifting up from the mess hall is not a that of the barracks' cook but of his own mother, who will greet them both with a smile before they sit down to eat together without a care in the world.

But the feeling of his bed in Hateno is now little more than a memory, with a month of sleeping in the barracks having passed in the blink of an eye. Link now wakes to the voice of his Captain rousing them from sleep each morning, followed by the quiet murmur of nineteen other young men sleepily blinking the last of their dreams away, stretching out yesterday's aching muscles and bones, slowly sitting up and preparing for another day of gruelling training.

And even this will end after today, Link realises with a jolt, for a consequence of his soon-to-be elevated status is that it has been deemed inappropriate for him to continue sleeping with the other trainee soldiers, for two reasons.

The first, of course, is that he will no longer be a trainee. The King himself has decreed that the newly appointed Sir Link of Hateno, Master of the Sword that Seals the Darkness and Champion of the Hylians, is to be granted new rooms appropriate to his new station.

The second is that said rooms must be nearer to his new charge. So that he can always be at her disposal. At any hour of the day or night.

No, Link thinks, he is not looking forward to getting up this morning in the slightest.

"I know you're nervous, but if anyone can do this, you can", the boy next to him says softly, bringing him out of his reverie. "If I were in your shoes, I would have soiled my trousers at least once already this morning. Probably most of the lads in here would too, no matter what they might say to your face. What I mean is... everything that is going on today, the knighting, the garbing... beneath the pomp and ceremony, it's all happening because of you. Because you are exceptional. On your own merit. Don't forget that, yeah?"

Link meets his eye, nods his gratitude. The boy smiles and says he'll see him in the mess hall.

His gaze shifts to the sword propped against the wall next to his bed. Weapons are supposed to be kept in the armoury under lock and key, but an exception has been made for the Master Sword. The official line is that the armoury is too grubby a place to store the most legendary weapon in all of Hyrule’s history. Link knows it’s really because no one dares to separate the Hero and his Sacred Blade. His victory in combat trials over every current standing soldier bar General Impa notwithstanding.

If only the sword could tell us what we need to know, Link muses. Certainly, it would aid his relationship with the Princess to no end, being able to present to her the answers she so desires on a platter. But the Sword, although sentient in some manner, has not spoken to Link since the day he pulled it from the pedestal in the Korok Forest. And in any case, he suspects that the answer to the problem that is Calamity Ganon is too complex to be proffered by a sword.

Although how he wishes it could explain to him how to avoid today’s events.

"Link, you really are going to be late. Get a move on, son!" Their captain has returned to chivvy the stragglers up to breakfast on time, and was clearly not anticipating his most successful cadet to be the last out of bed.

 _But, really, there is nothing I can do to change this_ , Link notes, continuing to gaze at the infamous sword. _It's happening, whether I like it or not. The sooner I get out of bed, the sooner it will all be over._

And so, with a sigh, he pushes back the covers and stands up, stretching and preparing his muscles, calming his mind just like Impa taught him, until he feels (almost) ready for the day ahead.

 

* * *

 

"... wake up, damn it. I do not have the time to sit around and wait for your luxurious lie-in to conclude. When you have decided to get off your behind and do your job, I will be in the library with the other Champions, since they're leaving today. In case you forgot."

Link wakes halfway through this latest verbal tirade, and has barely processed that the Princess has barged into his room, unannounced, once again, before the thick oak door that leads to the hallway outside slams shut behind her.

Mornings, Link decides as he falls back against his pillow, have become even less amenable recently.

There had been a small part of him that had hoped that the ceremony (and the nature of their pairing more broadly) would have changed something in the Princess, that she would see that they are in the same boat with the same destination, that surely such a partnership should be founded on something that resembles friendship.

The Princess, however, had strongly disagreed.

And so, a week hence of the ceremony in which Link had stood in front of hundreds of people, fallen to one knee and sworn his lifelong service to the Princess of Hyrule, she is still treating him like a stain that refuses to come out.

Link is a tolerant, patient person, but even he is finding that constant abuse takes its toll on a person’s motivation.

It won't do to keep her waiting, though. Although they are bound together by both their oaths and the inevitability of Ganon’s return, she can still make his life even more difficult than it currently is.

And it’s not really her fault, Link reminds himself. After the ceremony in the sacred grounds the following day, hearing the other Champions murmur away in the background, he had pulled Urbosa to one side and asked her to explain what she had meant by that.

And now, knowing the truth, Link can’t blame Zelda for any of it.

So, while it grates every single nerve in his body to be harassed and hated every single day, he will continue to grit his teeth, maintain his now-perfected silence, and keep doing his job.

No matter what she thinks about it.

 

* * *

 

 

"...wake up, Link. You have much to do, Hero. Wake up."

The voice fades as his consciousness grows, tearing him from sleep. For a second, he's worried that he's back in that pool again, that he will have to start the process anew each day, but then his senses kick in and he feels the dirt beneath his face, smells the fire burning a few feet away, hears the hum of the old man as he sets about his morning routine - or, at least what Link suspects is his morning routine, given that he's never observed it before.

His eyes blink open to warm sunrise towards the east, the last remnants of the night slowly fading away as the Eastern sun hits his face.

“Feeling ready for the day?”

Link shifts his gaze towards the old man, who is lowering himself down to sit by the fire.

“You slept like a log,” the man notes. “I was going to wake you soon.”

Link stands and stretches his limbs, loosens his joints, checks his weapons. It feels like a habit, muscle memory from hundreds of mornings of routine – not that he has anyway to know if that’s true or not. In fact, Link’s surprised he’s slept at all, after apparently a hundred years of it.

“You will need more sleep than you think, for the foreseeable future,” the old man says, as if he can see Link’s thoughts. “It will help your recovery, sustain your memory.” He pokes at the fire, watching the embers shift. “Do not feel guilty about sleeping,” he adds as an afterthought. “You have a long road ahead of you, and you need to be on best form for it.”

Link nods, and takes a baked apple from his pile of gear, the energy for words not finding him this morning. Before he finishes eating, the old man stands, dusts himself off, departs towards the Temple of Time. Link isn’t sure if it’s his eyesight or the wind, but he blinks, and the old man seems to have vanished along the path.

Shaking it from his mind, Link turns to the Slate on his hip. Yesterday had been a busy day, what with his rebirth, re-acquaintance with the world and re-education in the finer points of combat. And that was before activating the towers and shrines all around the country with a centuries-old power that he doesn’t really understand.

Today, he has the aim of completing the remaining shrines on the Plateau, foraging for food and expanding his weapon collection within the Slate. Oh, and trying to restore his memory and sense of self. That too.

It's going to be a long day.

 

* * *

 

“Link... Link... Link!”

Link opens his eyes to a world on fire.

All around him the air appears to burn with deep pink particles, although the night remains cool. The clouds are tinted magenta, but that’s not the worst thing. The real terror comes when Link looks at the moon and sees blood.

For a second, an all-encompassing panic takes him over, his nerves reaching the end of their tether.

 _I was too late, he thinks_ , as he scrambles from his bed roll to stare at the end of the world around him. _I slept for too long and now Ganon has returned for good._  
_I wasn’t fast enough._

_Zelda, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry..._

But as if his thoughts have summoned her, the voice that has been guiding him appears in his head once again, his soul filling with warmth as she reaches out to him.

“Be on your guard... Ganon’s power grows... it rises to its peak under the hour of the blood moon...”

 _Oh, thank Hylia. Not the end of the world just yet_.

“By its glow, the aimless spirits of monsters slain in the name of the light return to light.”

 _Wonderful. More irritating_ bokoblins _to slow me down._

What she doesn’t say is more important to him though. She makes no mention of Ganon escaping her bonds, of the second Calamity heading his way.

For this, Link is immeasurably grateful.

Zelda calls out to him once more, but Link feels a difference in it, feels a change in the way she speaks.

“Link... please be careful.”

As her voice fades away, the world shifts back to normal, the red clouds racing away to reveal a normal sky, the particles in the air burning away to nothing.

Link releases a breath he hadn’t realised he was holding and relaxes back into his bedroll.

As his pulse slowly reduces from a state of battle-readiness, his mind turns over the information he’s just received. He knows that, logically, Ganon cannot escape the castle unless Zelda releases her hold on him (and there’s a fat chance of that happening, he smiles to himself) or he draws power from another source, in which case they’re all screwed anyway.

Ganon regenerating his motley crews, therefore, is not a bad strategy. It’s just a shame that it’s going to be completely ineffective.

Link resolves two things that night. The first is that he is going to cut down every single creature Ganon has sent after him, no matter how long it takes him.

The second is that he is going to waste no time in getting back to the castle and freeing Zelda from her mortal prison. Not because he fears her hold on Ganon is slipping – he suspects it is his return, the rebirth of Farore’s Champion that is upsetting the power balance between the holders of the Triforce – but because if Ganon could break free of his bonds, surely he would have done it as soon as Link emerged from the Shrine, a weapon-less, disorientated amnesiac who posed little threat to anyone. No, Zelda is holding him in tight, that Link is sure of.

Link wants to get going because he wants her to have to hold on for as little time as possible.

_A hundred years, Princess. You’ve waited a hundred years. Just give me a few more months._

Part of him wants to get on straight away, to pack up and run off into the night towards Kakariko, to receive the instructions Impa has for him. But the rational strategist in him knows that, at this stage, sleep is more important, even if it’s just a few more hours.

 _Tomorrow_ , he promises as he re-settles into bed. _Tomorrow, I start in earnest._

As his eyes grow heavy, he stares at the Hylian shroom in front of him, trying to work out why its presence is confusing. It’s only as sleep finds him once again that he remembers picking it just a few hours earlier.

 

* * *

 

“Link... wake up, Link... you’re so close now...”

Dawn seems to come earlier today, even though that’s physically impossible.

Dawn comes to drag Link from his bedroll, hidden under a rock shelf on the Great Plateau next to his campfire. He chose the location of the camp for practicality, yes, but also for sentimentality. It seems fitting to end this journey where it began all those months ago.

Breakfast is pre-made, Link having anticipated his lack of surplus energy and prepared hearty meat and rice balls a few days ago. He eats slowly, methodically, not leaving even a morsel behind for the birds. His focus turns to his kit, which he packs away as best as he can with the tremors running down his arms and his chest quivering as he tries to fight it off.

Link is not scared of dying. He’s done it once already, and it wasn’t that painful.

Link is scared of failing.

Link is scared his failure will mean the undoing of everything Zelda has worked so hard for over the past hundred years, that it will mean she has to wait another few decades for the next Hero to be born, that it will mean that she never escapes the confinement she currently faces.

Link is scared his failure might give Ganon an opening to wreak more havoc on Hyrule, to finish the fight for good. At which point his worries about protecting Zelda won’t mean anything because all of Hyrule will have fallen to the Calamity.

 _Although_ , he reasons through his anxious haze, _either way, Zelda will be free of her bonds. And that’s worth it more than anything else._

With this resolution, he pulls himself to his feet, adjusting buckles and straps as he moves silently through the trees in the pale grey mist that announces the dawn towards the northern edge of the Plateau. And then he stops as the voice fills his mind.

_Champion Mine... Chosen of Farore and Defender of Hyrule... know yourself and you will find your Courage..._

The Goddess Hylia leaves his head as quickly She arrived, and Link falls to his knees, stunned, just as the sun appears over the top of a far-off ridge.

Bathed in the virgin sunlight, Link feels his awareness, his very soul, detach from his person and spread throughout the whole land, from the snow dusting the heights of Hebra to the waves kissing the shores in Lurelin; from the dancing sands of Gerudo to the storm-battered cliffs of Akkala. Hyrule rises as one voice to strengthen and support her champion.

And in the castle, the Hero’s spirit feels the tie to the two spirits locked in an age-old, perpetual balanced conflict, vicious red and pearlescent blue in contrast to his own warm green, knows that the fight will soon be over, knows beyond doubt that the Hylians containing the souls of the Princess and Hero will soon be reunited once more, knows that they can never be truly defeated when they work together.

Link falls back into his own consciousness with a gasp, on his hands and knees, fingers grasping at the dirt and his chest heaving as he reorientates himself within this realm.

_Hylia knows what She is doing. This land is ours to defend, as it has been for millennia. I can do this._

His mind clears, his body rights itself. Hold on, Zel. Just a bit longer.

Link takes a deep breath and runs off the edge, paraglider in hand, straight towards Hyrule Castle.

 

* * *

 

 

"Link...."

He’s upstairs as fast as his legs will carry him, but he needn’t have hurried, for Zelda simply rolls over and continues to sleep soundly.

Link sighs in relief, letting his back drag down the wall as he falls into a sitting position. She’s slept for nearly two days now, unconsciousness taking her as they passed through the Duelling Peaks, and she hasn’t woken since, not when Link lowered her down from Epona on arriving in Hateno, not when he carried her over the threshold, not when he deposited her onto his bed with as much tenderness as he could manage. Link suspects that she’s going through the same feeling of exhaustion he had when he came out of the Shrine, but even he, known for his adoration of sleep, has never slept for two days in a row.

 _She deserves it,_ he mutters to himself. _A hundred years without rest, she deserves it._

His thoughts return to the moment of their triumph, the memory as clear as living it the first time. Hyrule Field expands out before him once again, clouds shifting in the air as he watches the golden figure touch down to earth.

She’s speaking to him (thanking him, he thinks) but he is so captivated by her that he can’t form a response, instead simply moving forward and sweeping her up in an embrace.

At first, he worries that he has overstepped, that it is too much for her right away, but then she wraps her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck and they slowly sink to the ground together, revelling in the feel of one another and the wind in their hair and the knowledge that they did it, it’s over, they won.

Much later, after Zelda has moved to sit across his lap, her face pressed into his shoulder and his hands pulling her close to him, she mutters quietly into his chest about how much she wants to sleep (oh Hylia, to sleep again!).

Link starts to suggest places, a nearby stable, the Temple of Time, Kakariko Village, but Zelda asks if there is anywhere that is safe but private, somewhere where she can recuperate, where she won’t be subjected to being the Princess again just yet.

They arrive in Hateno as dusk falls, Link urging Epona up the hill towards his house without anyone spotting them.

Link wakes late the following morning, lying on his bedroll on the floor next to the bed where she sleeps, hand outstretched to where hers dangles over the edge of the mattress. Outside, he hears the gentle murmur of conversation that indicates that Bolson and Karson are convening around his cooking pot once again, accompanied by the noise of the birds in the trees outside. Link turns his head to look at Zelda asleep above him, and finds that he would be content to lie there for hours, studying her face in detail and committing every freckle, every line, every curve to memory. This is something I never want to forget.

But then he remembers the state he left the house in when he was last here a few weeks ago and _by Hylia_ , Zelda is _not_ going to be impressed by it.

As quietly as possible, Link tends to the house, picking up armour, taking weapons to the store room outside, feeding and brushing down Epona, organising his food and gear into cupboards, until it is (almost) clean enough for the Princess currently residing in it.

By this point it’s well into the afternoon, but Zelda continues to sleep – into the evening, into the night.

Around noon the next day, Link is cooking downstairs in an attempt to relieve some stress when he hears her call out. Dropping the pan with a clatter and a mumbled curse, he races up to meet her, but finds that she is simply stirring, not coming around completely.

It’s still a positive sign after two days of sleeping like the dead.

She calls his name several times over the next few hours, until the point where Link is now, slumped against the wall at the top of the stairs after hearing her speak again. By now, his nerves are fried, anxiety running rampant as he wonders _what if she doesn’t wake up, or if she wakes up with no memory like I did, or, or, or..._

 _Please Zel,_ he thinks, running a hand through his hair and over his neck as he sits with his head between his knees trying to slow his breathing. _Please... just... wake up._

“Link?”

His head snaps up, and is met with the sight of two emerald green eyes peeking over the top of the blankets at him.

Her hair is ruffled and knotted, her eyes are laden with the most enormous bags and her face has a large crease from where she’s been lying on the pillows.

Link has never seen a more calming and beautiful sight in his entire life.

“Hey. How are you feeling?” he asks softly as he moves towards her.

“Like I’ve been trampled by a herd of lynels,” she replies, her voice hoarse and scratchy, before breaking into a coughing fit.

“Here, take this...” Link grabs the waterskin off the bedside table and hands it to her, sitting back onto the floor as she carefully sips at it.

She re-corks the skin and sets it back down on the table, before lying back down to face him.

“This isn’t a dream, is it?” she whispers. “We actually did it?”

“We actually did it,” he smiles. “You sealed it away, and Hyrule is free again.”  
Her eyes widen, before brimming with tears.

“Hey.” Link shifts forward to kneel as close to her as possible. “It’s alright. It’s okay. You’re safe now.”

While he’s talking, his hand finds its way to her face, gently smoothing her hair back. Her hand comes up, and he assumes he’s overstepped a line so he makes to withdraw it, but her hand holds it to her.

“Please,” she asks, her voice barely audible. “I need... this. I need... you.”

He smiles and resumes caressing her face, brushing the flyaways back into place, running his knuckles over her cheekbones, cupping her face with his hand.

“I can’t believe you’re here,” he smiles.

“Neither can I,” she smiles, looking around the loft. “But I like it a lot, wherever and whatever it is.”

Link chuckles softly. “We’re on the outskirts of Hateno. It’s still thriving, even after all this time. This house was about to be demolished the first time I came into the village. Something inside me couldn’t let that happen, so I bought it and paid Bolson to restore it and now here we are.”

“This is your house?” she asks.

“Yeah,” he smiles.

“I like it a lot.”

“I’m glad you think so.”

Zelda moves closer towards him. “I also like this quite a lot.”

Link freezes. “I didn’t mean to be presumptuous- “

“Link- “

“- after all, you've been through an incredible amount of stress, and even then I wouldn’t want to assume that you would necessarily want me, because I’m just me and you’re you and I- “

“Link.” Her hand comes up from under the blankets to rest gently over his mouth. He takes it with his spare hand and moves it to cup his cheek.

“You’re not being presumptuous,” she smiles, running her thumb over his cheekbone. “Honestly, I don’t think you even know how to be presumptuous.”

“But I- “

“Link. Stop. It’s okay. It’s just you and me.”

“You and me?”

“Us. Together. We saved the world,” she smiles. “I think we’re allowed to indulge in this.”

“And what do you want this to be? Because I don’t want to make you feel like you’re obligated to anything and- “

“Link?”

“Yes?”

“Shut up,” she smiles, tugging him closer with the hand on his face until they’re pressed up together on the bed, eyes level and mouths softly brushing each other, slow and carefree, saying all that needs to be said with their bodies.

Several hours later, curled up under the blankets together, Link is delighting in watching Zelda sleep on his chest when he feels Her presence again.

_You two have endured challenge and heartbreak beyond measure... know that your efforts and sacrifices will be repaid a thousand times over... go forth with My blessing, always..._

Beside him, Zelda stirs as Hylia passes her the same message in her dreams, before moving closer to Link and settling with a sigh. His heart explodes with relief and adoration, and he allows his eyelids to close as he gazes at the woman he loves.

Link sleeps soundly all night, not a single terror disturbing him and his dreams full of hopes, until he feels Zelda’s voice break through his consciousness.

“Link... wake up, Link. We have much to do.”

**Author's Note:**

> This is my very first published fic so I'm very excited and terrified!
> 
> A massive shout out to my beta, Tumblr user @zelink-af, who gave me the courage to post.
> 
> Comments and constructive criticism are very much appreciated, if this goes down well I will post something else I'm working on shortly (angsty Hylink for y'all)... 
> 
> Thanks for reading!


End file.
